Heat Loss from Tank

patcheen

Hi,

I have noticed that I lose about 20c over night from my tank and I was wondering is this normal?

I understand this is difficult or maybe even impossible to answer without actually inspecting the plumbing system but maybe someone else has had the same issue and managed to improve it somehow. I’d really be interested in hearing any suggestions.

Description of the plumbing
17kw Solid fuel Stove w/back boiler
5 Rads ( 2x 1000m, 2x1200mm, 1 x 500mm)
30 Tube Solar Watering heating system
Dual Coil 250lt factory sealed / insulated HW tank.

I think I’m losing heat from the tank through the Solar coil and also through the Stove/Rads coil even when the pumps are not operating. Is there any way to reduce this?

Before I installed the solar tubes I was using night saver electricity to heat the water in the tank and the heat from the tank would conduct through the stove/rad coil and activate the stat (set to 50c) near the stove (approx. 8m run of copper pipe) and the pump would start. Obviously then the heat loss would accelerate and the element would continue to heat the water. My electricity bill during this time was scary!

Any ideas / suggestions welcome.
Thanks for reading

heinbloed

Contact a plumber.

Outkast_IRE

if it was me i would make a anti gravity loop for any suspect connections to the cylinder, it should be a easy enough process to find if a particular one is the culprit just wait till night turn the immersion on to bath and see if any of the coil connections are getting hot that shouldnt be.

Plombier

A few photos would help.

DoneDL

Is the pipework joining the cylinder insulated and is there a hot water tap dripping anywhere.

10-10-20

Do what Outkast suggested, but may I recommend that if you still have the immersion system installed, boil up the cylinder for an hour after all of the showers/washing is done. Then start feeling around for a hot pipe at the furthest distance from the tank.
Effectively, none of the pipes at the furthest distance in the hot-press should be much warmer than the surrounding area.
Anything hot should be considered a loss which needs to be identified & eliminated.

JuniorB

We had a similar issue with our tank earlier in the year (installed this time last year).
It was caused by thermo syphoning on the back boiler loop.
Not very technical on this but my understanding of the issue was...
The back boiler loop was running when it shouldn't have been as hot water was coming back out from the tank on the 'IN' pipe and hitting a stat to set off the pump that would lead to cold water running through the tank and causing the temp to decrease.

'Solution' was to have a the 'IN' pipe running straight for a foot or 2 so that the rising hot water would not go back up the pipe.

Or get it installed correctly from the beginning...